Archive for the 'Self-Improvement' Category

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Failure is Always an Option

Published on January 29, 2008 in Mental, Personal and Self-Improvement. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I was watching a computer animated film the other day where the main character tried to fix this strange invention that was supposed to make the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Well the repairs didn’t go so well and the device sprayed PB & J all over everyone in the room. Instead of getting angry everyone congratulated the young lad for his spectacular failure! If only real life was like this. In the real world we’re bombarded with slogans like, “Failure is not an option!” The fact is failure is an option. Any time you take on a new endeavor, you’re more likely to fail than to succeed. Should this deter you? No way!

Failure is a tool to build success. Success is the good stuff. It’s the goal. But failure is what will lead you there. Failure is a learning experience. From success you get nothing in terms of development. When you fail you haven’t really made a mistake, you’ve simply found the wrong path to success. After a while you’ll get on the right track and success will be yours as long as you have the guts to keep on going.

Persistence is what separates the achievers from the naysayers. Too may people have it in their heads that you should never fail. If you’re one of those people then I can say with absolute certainty that true success will never be yours. You’ll have a lot more success and a lot more fun in life if you not only accept failure but seek it out! Why not? Make it one of your goals this year to have a spectacular failure. I mean a real bomb!

Why the heck would anyone tell you to fail? To get you to try! What is it that you’ve always wanted to do but have been too afraid to take on? Go ahead and do it! The fear of failure has prevented more people from achieving their dreams than any other force on this planet. A failure is not someone who fails; it’s someone who gives up trying before their goal is reached. Give yourself permission to fail and see what happens. At the worst you’ll get a great learning experience and who knows, you might just make your dreams come true.

What Is NLP Anyway?

Published on January 24, 2008 in Self-Improvement. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

If you’ve ever heard of Tony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within and Unlimited Power, then chances are you’ve heard of the acronym NLP. But did you ever wonder what NLP really is? I mean, are we talking about a scientific process here or just some fancy term that Robbins made up to sell books? What the heck is NLP?

NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. In essence you’re using the nuances of language to change the way you think about things. This way of behavior modification was originally the brainchild of a personal development author (Richard Bandler) and a linguist (John Grinder) and it gets its base in Gestalt therapy.

In order to understand NLP, you really need to have a basic grasp of the theory behind Gestalt therapy. Gestalt works on the assumption that people fill in information gaps. For example, have a look at this:

Illusion triangle

Do you see three random dots, or do you see a triangle? The vast majority of people would say that these dots aren’t random and form a triangle even though the lines and angles necessary for a triangle to exist aren’t really there. Your personal beliefs can form in the same way. You get a couple of small pieces of information and your mind develops a complex belief system around them. NLP tries to change this belief system by challenging these conclusions.

NLP supposes that there isn’t any evidence for the negative beliefs that you hold. You just hold these beliefs because your mind is filling in the gaps and forming a reality that isn’t really there. For example, a commonly held belief is that you need to excel in academics if you want to succeed in life. If you were a student of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, you’d look for examples to prove this belief wrong. In this case you could read about Richard Branson, the multi-billionaire behind the Virgin Empire. Branson suffers from dyslexia and as a result, he preformed poorly in his academic career. He’s also worth $7.8 billion dollars! Obviously not everyone who does poorly in school fails in life.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming is about challenging your perception of the world. All you have to do is make a list of all the beliefs you have that are holding you back and find evidence that those beliefs aren’t really the triangle they appear to be. If you need some help along the way, pick up a copy of Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins. You’ll learn a lot more about NLP and you might just drastically improve your life.

Champion a Cause

Published on January 22, 2008 in Mental and Self-Improvement. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

One of the most powerful phrases I’ve ever read is displayed in the pavilion at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. It said, “Those who work for the good are as those who do the good.” Think about that for a minute because it’s truly powerful! There are few people in this world like Danny Thomas who founded St. Jude’s but there are millions around the world who can help the cause. What do you do to give to your community?

Zig Ziglar once said that the reason nothing can live in the Dead Sea is because it accepts water from rivers flowing into it but never lets anything out. Wealth works in much the same way. If you’re only interested in acquiring wealth and never give to the less fortunate you can bet that either the money will stop coming to you or all meaning will begin to drain from your life. Ziglar put it best when he said, “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” But what can you do? How can you make a difference?

The “I’m just one person” excuse is a common one. The truth is, one person can make a world of difference! Take St. Jude’s for example. It takes over $1.2 million dollars a day to run that children’s hospital! How is the majority of that money raised? It’s raised when someone goes to Chili’s and pays a dollar to color in a chili pepper or when someone goes to Target and says yes when the cashier asks for a donation. Millions of people who are only one person give what they can and the seemingly impossible gets accomplished.

What will your contribution be? What are you passionate about? Do you want to improve education levels? Feed the hungry? House the homeless? Whatever your cause is, go out and find an organization that champions it and join! If you’re too busy to give your time, think of how you can integrate that cause into your business. If you’re in sales, donate a portion of your commission to your cause. You could host a fundraiser in conjunction with your business. What a great PR opportunity that would be! Think of all the free press it could generate!

Even if you simply help your organization raise money it will make a world of difference. Do you think the doctors and scientists at St. Jude’s would be able to make medical breakthroughs and save lives if there was no one out there raising money for them? No way! Remember, when you work for the good you are as those who do the good. You may just see one of the most curious laws of life; the more you give, the more you seem to get.